To be honest this is the dream for me.  Skiing all the time, when I want and working a bit.  Here are some pictures from the times that I have been shooting.  That is another thing, I got a new point and shoot digital and it has allowed me to shoot so much more.  Only problem is the autofocus blooows.  So I will be remaking allot of these pics with more focus.

The pics are my attempt at making images about skiing that don’t involve the marketing that is usually associated or the usual shred pictures that are made (not that there is anything wrong with that).  I also don’t want to be under the thumb of Walther Niedermayer, those two pictures that Andreas Gursky took, and of course the Danny Zapalac.  Personally while I like both angles German Brutalist high art and Ski-action-sports visual culture I have problems with both approaches.  Niedermayer is obviously not a skiier the tone is just so cold there is no real reverence in the imagery.  They are so damn clinical.  While on the other hand Zapalac while kind of walking the line is way more focused on the editorial / lifestyle magazine kind of pictures.  So I dunno I’m starting from a place where I don’t want to be either of those things.  I want to be something else?

cool.  expect pictures every week or so.

I only have one more of these posts and then some other pictures and some other ideas for pictures.

So after Rob’s fabulous comment pushed me to be more open about these pictures.  The story is after I broke my leg and had really nothing else going on I decided to live off my Sarah Jean for a couple of months.  Her job was to photograph the composites (group pictures) for sororities and fraternities.  We went all over the south she went to work.  And I sat and rotted in hotels.  It was nice to be with S.J. but during the day I was stranded out in the boons and the only thing that even kind of interested me were the hotels we were staying in.  So I observed, photographed, and altered.  I was there on S.J.’s companies dime and I was there for S.J.  I can say that I was happy about that but I can also say that I was not really happy about being in the south.  No offense to people from that area but seriously, how the shit do you live there without being an alcoholic out of a lack of other things to do?  As with allot of photography (good and otherwise) there is no specific point.  It’s just as Matt (I think it was Matt or was it Eduardo?) said hey look it’s Mike Fuchs making Mike Fuchs pictures in that place that Mike Fuchs is in.

Cause thats’s what I do?  I go out there and improvise.  Maybe the point is sarcasm?  I have been looking over a longer term selection of work and sarcasm is starting to be quite a theme.

Blam!  As few of you know I will be moving to eastern OR for the winter to work (a job) and shred.  I think I may abandon all projects in order to make some shred pictures?

So I guess this is my blog now.

As I have expressed personally and now publicly:

Photo Lucida and I don’t really agree on what direction / purpose, ethic, and concern photography (art) should have.  Other than maybe 5 (out of 50) projects it’s more of the same mediocre conceptual(typically sculptural construction), outsider culture PJ, tragedy exploitation, and war.  Even inside of the insider culture PJ its more of the same narrative that you get out of the media.  It’s a really distorted mythos people are creating in allot of ways, but hey thats what the market wants right?

Heres another thing this portfolio of Lake Ontario pictures made it into the portfolio review.  And these are trash.

http://www.willsoncummer.com/Images/Lake-Ontario/7920538_envQA

Christopher Churchill

http://www.christopherchurchill.com/

Sam Comen

http://www.samcomen.com/index.php?/projects/lost-hills/

Marry Shannon Johnstone

http://www.shannonjohnstone.com/

Jeff Sheng  (the famous don’t ask don’t tell project)

http://www.jeffsheng.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=3

-These are two war photogs that are at least doing something different:

Dima Gavrysh

http://www.dimagavrysh.com/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=1&a=0&at=0

Claire Beckett (simulating Iraq 07-08)

http://clairebeckett.com/

Way to go on being progressive.

-Here are some picks of mine from people who were not chosen:

Olivia Barr

http://oliviabarr.com/section/180428_STILLS.html

Matthew Besinger

http://matthewbesinger.com/Pages/AnnexFull.html

Aglae Bory

http://www.aglaebory.com/aglae%20bory%20WORKS/correlations/correlations.html

Steven Brahms

http://www.stevenbrahms.com/part1.html

Kendrick Brinson (sun city west project)

http://kendrickbrinson.com/

Cori Chandler-Pepelnjak (don’t know why but Jojo really struck a chord with me)

http://www.pepelnjak.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=0

Tony Chirinos (surgical theatre project)

http://www.tonychirinos.com/enter

Victor Cobo

http://www.victorcobo.com/#/remember-when-you-loved-me/ghostsoflove

Daniel Coburn (read the statements)

http://www.objectaffection.com/gallery.html

Sam Comen

http://www.samcomen.com/index.php?/projects/lost-hills/

Susan Dobson

http://www.susandobson.com/dislocation.htm

Sarina Finkelstein

http://www.sarinafinkelstein.com/#Portfolio/Portfolios/Prospectors/1

Matthew Gamber (any color you like project)

http://www.matthewgamber.com/

Ayala Gazit

http://www.ayalagazit.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=0

Yuji Hamada  (pulsar project)

http://www.hamadayuji.com/Yuji_Hamada.html

Kent Hasel (look at these big, love it)

http://www.kenthasel.com/Site_3/Cows.html

Aaron Kreiswirth (europe fsu)

http://cargocollective.com/aaronkreiswirth#718085/EUROPE-FSU-2005-2009

Liz Kuball

http://www.lizkuball.com/californiavernacular

Jean Laughton

http://www.jeanlaughton.com/html/ranching/index.shtml

Sunae Lee

http://www.suricity.co.kr/main/project01.html

Jennifer Loeber

http://jenniferloeber.com/artwork/485479_Waiting_for_the_talent_show.html

Mary Beth Meehan

http://www.marybethmeehan.com/mbm-photo-portfolio/projects/city-of-champions

Nancy Newberry (The first project under photographs titled Mum)

http://nancynewberry.com/

Hally Pancer (project titled lifelike)

http://www.hallypancer.com/#

Justin James Reed

http://justinjamesreed.com/photographs_01.html

Maxim Ryazanky

http://www.maximryazansky.com/index.html?show=wbc

Mahesh Shantaram

http://thecontrarian.in/photography/airtime/

Matt Slaby

http://luceoimages.com/2010/06/the-last-good-kiss-a-lovesong-to-the-american-west/

Hrvoje Slovenc (read the statement)

http://www.hrvojeslovenc.com/text/portfolio18.html

Andrew Spear

http://www.andyspear.com/folios/college-sexuality/

Andrea Stultiens

http://www.andreastultiens.nl/albumshow.php?boek=18

Jordan Tate (just really entertained by this)

http://www.jordantate.com/works/new-work/

cant see the pictures through the trees.

so I keep posting with no feedback.  If that continues why are we posting?

So these pictures are just pictures and will eventually be added to the underwear pics as a grander hotel thing which will probably be folded into the twice westward stuff as I’m rethinking it to try to make it fit more maybe.  Or maybe it’s just its own thing.  I don’t really know.

So Eduardo and Mr Kelly have been expressing some contention about the honesty/truth of photographic representation and also the intention of the videos.  The intention of the videos is not to offer up some kind of truth about intimacy.  Kind of the opposite, usually what happens with these close up photographs of peoples faces and naked pictures of girlfriends is objectification.  For me it brings it as far away form intimacy as possible.  I’m looking at more from a clinical standpoint, rather than looking at an intonation/suggestion of it I want the physical how.  Also within that maybe having a little fun with the conception of the traditional aesthetic ideas about intimacy.  I guess I should have posted that with a video… eh whatev.

some pics.  kinda psyched about a couple.  not psyched about others.

underwear.  whaaaat.  there are obvious ideas at work but over ones not so much.  I’m just kind of out there improvising.  ill sort the debris out later.  Ideas are in the editing am i right? am i right?

So I’m kind of making a departure from the kind of work I would normally make.  Going more towards just specifically making work about hotels.  I have still been trying to come up with ideas for videos and also for the underwear pictures which are pretty similar in intention.  With the hotel stuff it’s figuring out how to make the environment interesting so I’m more concerned on the visual and making that aesthetically fit with the older underwear pics.

The videos are specifically about intimacy.  Sarah and I (mostly me) have been getting kind of tired of how photography displays intimacy and also how photographers making work about being a couple go about talking about the concept.  Usually people seem to think that intimacy is sex, nudity, bedrooms, and close ups.    We’re thinking about that and addressing it.  Also I feel that the inclusion of both of us in the work kind of shifts the gaze off of sarah (which it normally would be in this kind of project) and put it more on me.

so thats what up.

Got back from roadtrip, developed film, scanned film, still editing / working on project.

Snow started falling Jake and I started to take advantage of snow with the snow sports.  I started to shoot the sequel to Colonized Waterways, and then I broke my knee.

5 months and 6 sheets of 4×5 later I was back on my feet (actually foot) in P.T. and am now back on the road.  I’ve spent the last two weeks in a combo of DC and NYC and next week head off to the (northern part) of the south.  I will be spending the next two months living with Sarah on the road.  So I was planning on showing allot of things.  Then I realized that most of those projects were one off’s.  Essays in the grand photojournalist tradition.  Here is a list of everything new for you to look at.  I’m not going to waste time and look for comments on whats done.

(In chronological order)

Capitol Thoughts

Tax Payer March On Washington

Sister(ongoing)

Grandparents

Restoring Honor

As you can see I have a shit ton of eggs in differing baskets.  I have this “family” project, which is unyieldingly straight forward.  A political “project” which I have been starting to get seriously interested in with thoughts of shooting actual government, and also photographing more extremist political things.  There is also the twice westward project which I will be shooting for during these two months with Sarah, also our underwear work will be getting done.  And then when I’m home I will get back to shooting the river.  Which I may post soon?  I will probably wait till I’m back in Oregon and actively working on it.

so guess what?  I guess I’m a photojournalist.  Being that all I do is essays.  Meh “Art” needs institutional designation for definition so I guess I would rather be a rogue journalist with no ethics?

anyway no more talk.  Here are the “good” pictures I took with a view camera and a broken knee.  What’s that?  Oh yeah I’m a hardcore mother fucker.

Father arrives home with new plants.

Mother does the annual washing of the outdoor art.

Dogs thinking that someone has come home early.

Dogs sleeping on my laundry.

Dog snot on the carpet.

Batteries from PS3 controller rolled off table in the afternoon.

So yeah.  A couple things you will notice / not see.  I’m not going to post anything finished on here anymore.  Everything will be crude.  You want finished go look at my website.

I am super unsure about these pictures.  This stuff is way out of my comfort zone.  They are exceedingly quiet and autobiographical.  I’m not much one for diaries (although I constantly photograph my dogs).

Speaking of which I wish my dog pictures were as good as Tony Mendoza’s.

GO!

As with allot of the parts of seeing my family along my route is to document their life as it pertains to me.  With this I see my future and parts of my present.  Being here has been nice and a bit strange, I need to spend more time with these photographs.

Poppy waiting at the optometrists office for some ointment.

Going to the clinic is quite convenient being that in the community doctors seem to locate them around patients who are concentrated so much around the elderly.The ceiling fixture in their house was really ugly, it’s good that they replaced it.  The company that replaced the fixture was mostly staffed by immigrants.  Poppy being an immigrant loves to talk about how hard they work compared to my generation of kids of “entitlement” who will “never work a real day in our lives.”  The immigrant experience is the cornerstone of his criticism of me.Birdy and Poppy like to pool walk, it’s a social thing they say.  They have a routine where they usually go in at a certain time and they befriend each other.  When I arrived they wanted to pool walk and I got there rather late in the day so there was a completely different crowd and kids.  They love to complain about how much they don’t like the noise kids make.  It’s funny how not typically old they usually are then they drop something like that.  Oh those damn noisy kids and their noise.  I think it’s because they now surround themselves with other old people.

Poppy being from the Czechoslovokia ( when there was still such a thing) has a fondness for things that slightly remind him of Europe.  He loves IKEA breakfast and IKEA in general.  They needed a knife to cut meat.  I recommended a flat blade rather than a curved one.Poppy reads the newspaper.  He actually reads six or seven in many languages.  He reads most of them on the computer.  It’s funny because Birdy really doesn’t read the paper anymore.  But she watches the news and complains about the lack of news on there.  Those can be fun arguments when we get into that.

Poppy driving his golf cart back from the dealership.  He claims it makes a noise.  I could not hear it.

Poppy and Birdy cover the plants when it freezes.  That doesn’t happen often in Arizona.  Birdy is the green thumb of the two but Poppy has the final say in the design of the garden.  He’s stern like that.

Poppy likes to make work for himself.  Closing the blinds at night is one of his self assigned jobs.

Poppy dealing with a man from the neighborhood assosciation.

Birdy looking at chotchsky’s in the backyard of an estate sale.  Those are really creepy, the clothes left in the closet and stuff splayed all over the place.  They have friends that have furnished their houses only from estate sales.  Strange form of recycling.  And frugality.

You want to go somewhere swingin on a friday night.  Go to the elks lodge.  That evening it was all retired/elderly folks.  While I was taking this picture a woman came up to me and said we got to talking about what I was photographing.  She started to complain about her grand kids not coming to visit.  I told her she was to young to have such progeny  and she responded “I’m not young.  I am old!  And I am having fun!”.Rearranging the antiques after the installation of the new light fixture in the kitchen.  Poppy likes everything just so so he took pictures of how things were arranged before the work was done.  Poppy stood by yelling at grandma to make sure all the items were placed at pleasing angles.  It was funny, they act just like the honeymooners yelling sarcastically with the immediacy of two people hard of hearing.

Poppy learned spanish when he was stationed in south america during WWII.  He was an engineer so he saw no active combat but made maps.  He keeps up spanish through Destinos a kind of soap operah meant to teach spanish.  I went through that in high school.  It was fun.Rabbit in the front lawn.  Birdy didn’t believe me when I told her that it was there.  During the winter they hide apparently because the birds of pray fly down from the mountains.

I keep having conversations about how americans feel so entitled and whatnot with Poppy.  I say that the greatest sign of american decadence is the fact that people live in the desert.  Where they should not be.  I think one thing about his immigrant narrative is the duality that he likes what American Values are but wants to claim no part of it due to how he finds many of its side effects disagreeable.  Instead of bucking up to the consequences of the lifestyle they’ve chosen.

Poppy love to use his go-kart, ez go I think it’s called.  They go to all the activities in their kart.

We played mini-golf.  I won.  Birdy was close, Poppy made the maximum stroke amount except for three wholes where he achieved a whole in one.

Poppy and Birdy learned CPR.  It was really odd to watch.  The questions people asked were also super depressing.

thoughts?